Processes to ensure a fair and impartial hearing for both alleged victims and perpetrators of harassment are crucial to existing Hill harassment policies, as well as the newly tabled federal legislation under Bill C-65.

Given that the governing party has a caucus that remains 73 per cent male, exploring these fundamental tenents of harassment and sexual harassment in a political climate begging for more clarity is not just the smart thing to do, but the responsible thing to do.

While the #MeToo movement is shifting the dynamic of who is heard, and potentially believed, when it comes to sexual harassment and assault, the behaviour of elected officials with bad judgment will not magically change overnight.

But political parties and media establishment be warned—many of the elected women we see today won't settle for the usual games, and with greater numbers, can push back. They know their time has come, they are prepared to publicly call out misogyny in all of its forms, and to leave the field much better than they found it.

Premier Notley is not an outlier in Alberta for her commitment to elevating women, but a wonderful embodiment of an enviable tradition in the province of dynamic leaders who have dared to challenge the status quo, and prevailed.

There is, in all this hand-wringing about Hillary Clinton’s re-emergence, a subtext that politics is really for the boys, and girls are only allowed in when they out-perform and ultimately deliver for the (often male-dominated) troops.

Especially given that the House of Commons is only 27 per cent women. More disconcerting, however, as has been widely reported, women comprise a distinct minority on the overwhelming majority of House of Commons committees where policy choices are rigorously debated.

To ponder it fully, is crazy-making. The first woman running to be U.S. president is up against a man who has used his wealth and power to systematically degrade, debase and, more likely than not, assault a number of women.

Relentless social media attacks, an overwhelming workload, and heightened public scrutiny that disproportionately regards the missteps of female politicians as 'personal failings' and reflective of fundamental character flaws are some of the reasons women opt to stay away.

Individual women who are elected should not have to internalize a feeling of vulnerability on the basis of a nefarious Facebook post, verbal threat, or other incident. They absolutely should not be left to deal with it on their own.

Christine Moore and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau are up against long-entrenched structural and gendered norms regarding public expectations of how they—as women—fulfill their responsibilities, whether elected or otherwise.